Ch 10: After My Mother Returned to the Rich Family

High School Year 2, Class 2.

After writing down the assignments for the afternoon self-study session on the blackboard, the Chinese class representative returned to her seat and noticed Ren Qingqing looking distracted. Concerned, she asked, “Ren Qingqing, shouldn’t you stay in the hospital for a few more days for observation? Are you really okay?”

Ren Qingqing, engrossed in cramming English vocabulary to avoid being defeated by Ruan Cha in her strongest subject again, froze for a moment at the question. Feeling deeply humiliated, she replied curtly, “I’m fine, thanks for asking.”

The class representative pursed her lips, sensing the lack of appreciation, and turned away. Any budding desire to foster a good relationship with the new classmate faded quickly.

…

[Friendly reminder: A truly excellent top student never works in isolation. Cultivating strong friendships, especially when classmates show concern, is crucial.]

Ren Qingqing sneered inwardly. “Concern? It’s just thinly veiled mockery, isn’t it? A classmate being struck by lightning in broad daylight—ridiculous, isn’t it?”

Though her words were directed at the system, her true frustration stemmed from the public embarrassment of the lightning strike. Ever since returning to school, she found herself constantly paranoid, suspecting her classmates were gossiping behind her back.

[The lightning strike was part of the program’s settings and cannot be altered by the system.]

Perhaps feeling apologetic, the system soon issued a new task:

[Ding! Please memorize the complete texts of The Song of the Lute and The Difficult Road to Shu before noon. Completing the task will allow the host to extract 2 points of intelligence from the associated target.]

Ren Qingqing whipped her head toward the closed Chinese textbook on her desk, momentarily stunned by the windfall. She had finished memorizing The Song of the Lute just last night! Now, all she needed was to memorize The Difficult Road to Shu to complete the task!

She steadied herself, excitement coloring her cheeks.

“This time,” she thought, “Ruan Cha won’t stand a chance! Even if she tries, she’s already far behind on the starting line!”

“System,” she asked cautiously, “has Ruan Cha ever memorized The Song of the Lute or The Difficult Road to Shu?”

[Based on scans, the associated target has never memorized either text. The host holds a significant advantage.]

Hearing this, Ren Qingqing’s heart soared with glee.

…

Meanwhile, in Class 10…

Every class in the grade had slight variations in their schedules. For example, Class 2 had Chinese next period, while Class 10 had math. When the task notification appeared, it was during the recess, and Class 10 was bustling with noise.

[Ding! Please memorize the complete texts of The Song of the Lute and The Difficult Road to Shu before noon. Completing the task will allow the host to extract 2 points of intelligence from the associated target.]

Ruan Cha’s face darkened instantly. That damn system!

So even after being struck by lightning, Ren Qingqing still hadn’t given up on the task B?!

Seething internally, Ruan Cha snapped her physics worksheet shut, pulled her Chinese textbook from the desk cubby, and flipped to The Song of the Lute.

Staring at the words on the page, she exhaled slowly. At least the text wasn’t overly convoluted. Calming herself, she blocked out the classroom’s clamor, her expression focused as she carefully studied each line.

Nearby, Xie Changan had been about to call Ruan Cha to team up for a game. But when he turned to see her earnestly reciting The Song of the Lute, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Pre-studying? In Class 10?” he thought. “What a rare sight.”

“Ruan Cha, there’s only a ten-minute break. How many lines can you possibly memorize?” Xie Changan teased, shaking his phone with a mischievous grin, the classic look of a slacker trying to drag someone else down. “Come on, join me in a game. I’ll carry you to victory!”

Ruan Cha shook her head, her tone entirely serious. “No, I love studying.” She said it so convincingly that even she almost believed it.

With that, she turned another page of her textbook, her lowered almond-shaped eyes dark and bright at once, her focus absolute. Xie Changan found himself at a loss for words. Would disturbing her studies bring about divine retribution?

Rumor had it that in Class 2, just before Ren Qingqing was struck by lightning, she’d been asking her seatmate about a physics problem. Xie Changan, eyebrows drooping, fell into a pit of doubt.

Both The Song of the Lute and The Difficult Road to Shu were among the longer classical Chinese texts in the High School Year 2 syllabus. Xie Changan leaned over to take a peek and instantly felt a headache coming on. He was just about to head back to his desk to resume gaming when he saw Ruan Cha finish flipping through both texts. Glancing at the clock, he realized it had taken her less than five minutes!

Ruan Cha believed she had successfully memorized them. Yet no matter how long she waited, the system’s voice never came. Panic set in—was the system’s bug, which allowed her to hijack tasks, now fixed?

“Ruan Cha, you’re done previewing?”

Still staring at her book, Ruan Cha replied in a heavy tone, “I’ve memorized them.” She had gone over them twice in her mind, yet the system remained as silent as the grave.

“You’re joking, right?”

Xie Changan had just witnessed her merely skim through the pages once. Seeing her serious expression, he slapped his phone onto the desk, crossed his arms, and tilted his chin upward. “Fine, recite it for me. If you’ve really memorized it, I’ll take over all your classroom cleaning duties for the next month.”

“…Deal.” Thanks to the system drama, Ruan Cha’s expression carried a hint of gloom. But as she began reciting, her tone was flawless: “By the River Xunyang, I saw my guest off at night; Maple leaves and reeds…”

Xie Changan had initially proposed the challenge in jest, but as he listened, his eyes gradually widened. Something felt off—Ruan Cha was too fluent, without the slightest stumble. “Wait, wait, wait! Ruan Cha, hold up. Let me grab the book. Don’t try to bluff me; I haven’t memorized it.”

At his words, Ruan Cha paused, gesturing gracefully with her hand for him to verify the text. Her composed demeanor left Xie Changan suddenly unsure of his suspicions. Sitting up straighter, he earnestly flipped through the dense lines of The Song of the Lute until he located where Ruan Cha had paused. Though he couldn’t recall the text himself, her recitation seemed spot on.

“Alright, keep going.”

“Adding wine and relighting the lamp, we reopened the feast…”

The classroom was bustling with noise, but Xie Changan could hear clearly—Ruan Cha had flawlessly recited the entire text! Not a single word was off, and she didn’t hesitate for even a moment.

What kind of brain is this?!

After finishing The Song of the Lute, Ruan Cha casually moved on to have Xie Changan test her on The Difficult Road to Shu.

Both classical Chinese texts, from start to finish, were recited with remarkable fluency. Not a single pause interrupted her steady flow. “…Harder than ascending to heaven itself…”

Xie Changan: “!!!”

Throughout the entire process, Xie Changan sat in a daze, listening to Ruan Cha’s seamless recitation. His eyes flicked repeatedly to the clock on the wall. Within a single break period, and after reading through the texts just once, Ruan Cha had memorized both The Song of the Lute and The Difficult Road to Shu???

System Notification:

Ding! As the associated target successfully completed the task of memorizing both “The Song of the Lute” and “The Difficult Road to Shu” before the host, the task is deemed failed. One point has been deducted.

Ruan Cha: “!!!”

Although she was slightly disappointed that the system hadn’t struck Ren Qingqing with lightning again, she was thrilled to have added another weapon to her arsenal against the system. For memorization tasks, Ren Qingqing might have a system, but Ruan Cha had people to verify her progress.

For English vocabulary, she had the teacher; for classical Chinese memorization, there was Xie Changan.

“Oh my god! Ruan Cha, how did you manage to memorize two classical texts in just five minutes? Are you speed-reading? Do you have a photographic memory?” Xie Changan was so excited he nearly shouted. A self-proclaimed slacker himself, he couldn’t believe he was sitting next to a genius with such a superhuman memory.

Ruan Cha closed the book, tilting her head slightly in thought. “I just read through them and remembered. But honestly, I read pretty slowly. My parents are way faster than me.”

When she was in elementary school, her family of three used to compete to see who could memorize storybooks the fastest. Whoever was the slowest had to water the garden. Naturally, this turned Ruan Cha into a professional gardener.

Xie Changan: “…”

So I’m a slacker because of my dad’s genes?

Meanwhile, Ren Qingqing—who had always prided herself on her academic prowess—was on the verge of tears. The third system notification of task failure rang in her ears, and her eyes turned red. Both hands gripped the edge of her desk tightly as frustration and fury roiled inside her.

A supposed 10-point-scoring literature slacker was continuously thwarting her!

“System, does Ruan Cha also have a scholar system? One that can boost intelligence?”

[System]:
After examination, associated target Ruan Cha is not bound to a scholar system. Completing the tasks based on her natural intelligence is not unusual.

Host, are you sure you don’t want to deduct 10 points and switch from Task B to Task A?

“Why should I lose 10 points just because of Ruan Cha?” Ren Qingqing lost control, slamming her textbook to the ground in an uncontrollable fit of rage.

With a loud smack, the textbook, still wrapped in its protective cover, landed perfectly in front of the shoes of the language teacher who had just entered the classroom.

Known as the “White-Faced Reaper,” the language teacher fixed a steely gaze on the guilt-ridden Ren Qingqing. His expression darkened as he said, voice filled with displeasure, “Ren Qingqing, pick up your textbook and stand outside the classroom until the end of the period!”

In an instant, every student’s gaze turned toward Ren Qingqing. No matter how much they might grumble about teachers, none of them would dare throw a textbook in front of one!

It seemed someone who had been struck by lightning truly was extraordinary!

Ren Qingqing bit her lip so hard it left faint teeth marks. Her face flushed red and then turned pale, while whispers of mocking laughter floated around the room. She felt utterly exposed and humiliated, as if she were standing naked before an audience.

Meanwhile, Ruan Cha, who had successfully completed her task and preserved her intelligence points, had shifted from her initial obvious satisfaction to an air of calm composure.

After finishing the recitation, she quickly settled back into studying, flipping through her book. Inwardly, she decided to fully understand the meanings of the two classical texts before the next period ended; otherwise, her memorization effort would feel wasted.

However, Ruan Cha’s mood of quiet satisfaction was short-lived. As soon as class began, the homeroom teacher announced the upcoming monthly exams. In just two weeks, all 23 classes in Grade 11 would sit for tests covering Math, Chinese, English, and science subjects combined.

While most of her classmates shrugged it off, Ruan Cha felt her previously calm heart sink. Despite being labeled as a “relationship student,” Ren Qingqing was no fool. Her grades were balanced across subjects. Could Ruan Cha truly make up for her neglected studies in Chinese and science in just two weeks?

Based on her experience with the system, the likelihood of a task being tied to the monthly exams: 99.999%.

At lunchtime, Ruan Cha declined Huang Jiajia’s invitation to eat with the group. Holding the key to the broadcasting room, she pursed her lips slightly and headed there.

In the broadcasting room, classes took turns managing it weekly. This week was the turn of Class 10, and Lin Ling, in charge of scheduling, had deliberately added Ruan Cha to the roster last minute.

One of Lin Ling’s close friends, clinging to her arm, glanced dismissively at Ruan Cha’s retreating figure. Her voice carried a tone of schadenfreude. “Lin Ling, did you see how gloomy Ruan Cha looked? Do you think she’ll freeze up and be too nervous to say anything during the broadcast?”

New students often fumbled during their first turn at broadcasting, stumbling over words and leaving their voices trembling. It had become a treasure trove of comedic moments for the school.

“Whether or not she can even speak clearly doesn’t matter—” Lin Ling flicked her bangs with a smug smile, narrowing her eyes in satisfaction. “Ruan Cha is definitely going to love the news script I prepared. After all, it’s a ‘gift’ that’s sure to make her famous across the entire campus.”